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Jillian Durham has a five-month-old child. She doesn't get much sleep anyway. But living in Whitehorse, every hour of daylight is precious, especially in the cold winter months.

"Right now, sunrise is 9:28 and sunset 18:00," she says. "We still have a strong twilight but no direct sun."

These limited hours may sound restrictive, but a new study out of the U.K. shows that having specific daylight hours aren't nearly as important as what people do with them. Following that logic, it's possible that our system of daylight savings time may be ready for the trash heap.

The report from the Policy Studies Institute suggests instead that we need exactly the opposite of the current system. Instead of making sure that we have an extra hour of sunlight in the morning - when few people need it - by moving clocks backwards tomorrow, they think we ought to be moving clocks forward, for an extra hour of sunlight in the evening.

"It would bring about a significant improvement to the overall quality of life for the great majority of the population," the report argues. "A further hour of evening daylight - with its share of sunlight - would be enjoyed for an additional 11 months of the year, whereas an extra hour of morning darkness would only have to be endured during the months off or winter months."

And more light in the evenings is good for a couple of reasons. First of all, few people care about light in the morning when they're going to work. But according to the British report, extending evening daylight hours would create "an overall increase of well over one-quarter in the number of hours for daylight-dependent activities in the evening", including social activities, sports and running errands. With greater evening daylight hours, the report also suggests that the tourist season could be extended by up to two months in most areas, creating economic benefits.

But aside from that, creating an environment where people are exposed to more natural light just makes them feel good.

"There is a sense of greater well-being in daylight, an overwhelming preference for it rather than artificial light," the report reads.

People like Durham, for example, appreciate those daylight hours more than most.

"I find the darkness affects my productivity and overall mood during the winter," she says. "Staying outside when the sun is up and doing something active helps a lot."

While a 1996 study found that the hour of sleep lost due to daylight savings time in the spring could be attributed to a 7% rise in traffic accidents and a 6.5% rise in the death rates of all accidents, the effects of a change in sleep pattern overall could even be traced in the stock markets. University of Toronto professor Lisa Kramer published an article in 2000 that found that markets can shift 200 to 500% off normal weekend effects due almost entirely to daylight savings time.

"In the United States alone, the daylight savings effect implies a one-day loss of $31 billion on the NYSE, AMEX and NASDAQ exchanges," she wrote.

"The effect on accidents, whether sleep is lost or gained, is similar to what happens to sufferers of jet lag: response time and problem-solving abilities are adversely affected whether the travel involves a "lag" by travelling west to east, or a "lead" from traveling east to west. In the sleep literature jargon, negative consequences are suffered whenever there is desynchronosticity in circadian rhythm; if travel in one direction compresses the traveller's day, then travel in the other direction stretches it, and both effects cause descynchronosis."

A regular night's sleep, it turns out, is pretty important.

But until policy makers give us more evening daylight in the winter months, the best advice for mitigating the effects of your changed sleep pattern may come from the Canadian Forces.

"The most effective fatigue mitigating strategy that 437(T) Squadron has adopted is the use of strategic naps," reads a statement from the Canadian Air Force. A nap of about 40 minutes, no less than two hours before your normal bedtime, has been proven to be remarkably effective at re-energizing your body for any tasks ahead.

Just how important is a good night's rest?

Sleep is enormously important for the brain to work properly. While we sleep, especially dreaming sleep (often referred to as "rapid-eye movement" or REM sleep), our brains finish learning about our previous day, repair themselves and help to balance out our lives.

Sleep deprivation or a lack of quality sleep has been linked with mood disorders like depression and some neurological conditions like dementia. A bad night's sleep also hurts problem-solving and analytical skills.

No surprise, then, that sleep is a huge area of research for brain scientists. And they're having some success.

New research published a year ago in the journal of the American Neurological Association found that implanting a small electrical device -somewhat like a pacemaker - in a small part of the brain could actually improve the quality of sleep and adjust the frequency of REM sleep.

In short, scientists are well on the road to understanding how we dream and have figured out a way to make people dream more often and more vividly, paving the way for new treatments for any number of neurological disorders.

Sleep well

Dr. Aparajitha Verma at the Sleep Disorders Centre of the Methodist Neurological Institute in Houston says that there are a few tips everyone can incorporate into their daily routine to help improve their sleep.

- Sleep in a quiet and dark environment and set the thermostat at a slightly cooler temperature;

- Don't allow pets in the bed;

- No reading, eating or watching TV in bed;

- Don't watch the clock;

- Set a "wind down" time prior to going to bed;

- Don't take over-the-counter sleep aids and avoid caffeine, nicotine and alcohol close to bedtime, as these can disrupt sleep. Instead, try drinking warms teas or milk to increase your body temperature, which helps induce and sustain sleep;

- Exercise is good for sleep, but not within two hours of going to bed